Search Results (9 total)

We study, experimentally and numerically, the relaxation of an initially nonuniform intense beam in an alternating-gradient transport line. A nonlinear distribution consisting of five interacting beamlets is created and tracked for longer than seven plasma periods with the help of tomographic phase-space mapping. Emittance growth is initially rapid, but slows down as the nonuniform distribution homogenizes in a few plasma periods. Both growth rates are found to depend on the beam current.

A technique is described for the tomographic mapping of transverse phase space in beams with space charge. Most prior studies where performed at high energy where space charge was negligible and therefore not considered in the analysis. The tomographic reconstruction process is compared with results of simulations using the particle-in-cell code WARP. The new tomographic technique is tested for beams with different intensities (both emittance and space-charge dominated), and with different initial distributions. Effects of various errors in the data collection process on the reconstructed phase space are discussed. It is shown that the crucial factor is not necessarily the number of projections but the range of angles over which the projections are taken. This study also includes a number of experimental results on tomographic phase space mapping performed on the University of Maryland Electron Ring.

We present detailed calculations of RMS-envelope matching over a broad range of beam intensities for the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER). Containment of beams from zero current to extreme space charge, all without changing the strength of external focusing in the periodic lattice, is possible thanks to the high density of quadrupoles in UMER. In turn, the small-aspect ratio of the UMER magnets results in gradient or field profiles that are “all edges,” thus requiring special treatment when constructing accurate hard-edge models. Further, the results of matching calculations, for both symmetric and asymmetric FODO (alternating gradient) schemes, are compared with calculations from simple general expressions valid in the uniform-focusing approximation of the periodic lattice. Finally, some aspects of the source-to-FODO matching calculation/optimization problem are discussed, together with sensitivity studies of the matching solutions under realistic conditions. The examples from the UMER project, which include experimental results, emphasize the practical aspects of beam envelope matching.

Characterization of beam energy spread in a space-charge dominated beam is very important to understanding the physics of intense beams. It is believed that coupling between the transverse and longitudinal directions via Coulomb collisions will cause an increase of the beam longitudinal energy spread. At the University of Maryland, experiments have been carried out to study the energy evolution in such intense beams with a high-resolution retarding field energy analyzer. The temporal beam energy profile along the beam pulse has been characterized at the distance of 25 cm from the anode of a gridded thermionic electron gun. The mean energy of the pulsed beams including the head and tail is reported here. The measured rms energy spread is in good agreement with the predictions of the intrabeam scattering theory. As an application of the beam energy measurement, the input impedance between the cathode and the grid due to beam loading can be calculated and the impedance number is found to be a constant in the operation region of the gun.

We have developed a compact high-resolution retarding field energy analyzer for measuring the energy spread of space-charge-dominated electron beams. This energy analyzer has a cylindrical electrode to overcome the defocusing effects due to space-charge forces, beam trajectories, aperture effect, etc. The device provides excellent spatial and temporal information on the beam energy spread. Single-particle simulation shows that this energy analyzer has very good resolution for low-energy electron beams of several kilovolts and with large divergence angles. The energy analyzer has been tested with 2.5 keV, 60 mA electron beams. The measured energy spread is also compared with the theoretical calculations taking into account two main energy spread sources, namely, the Boersch effect and the longitudinal-longitudinal relaxation.

The appearance of rings of charge observed near the edge of beams from high-perveance guns is described with a simple ray tracing technique inspired by the particle-core model. We illustrate the technique, which has no analog in light optics, with examples from experiments employing solenoid focusing of an electron beam. The rings of charge result from the combined effects of external focusing and space-charge forces acting on paraxial fringe particles with relatively large initial transverse velocities. The model is independent of the physical mechanisms responsible for the fringe particles. Furthermore, the focal length for edge imaging in a uniform focusing channel is derived using a linearized trajectory equation for the motion of fringe particles. Counterintuitively, the focal length decreases as the beam current increases.

Air-core printed-circuit (PC) quadrupoles and dipoles have been developed for the University of Maryland electron ring, currently under construction. The quadrupoles and dipoles are characterized by very small magnetic fields (about 15 G at the aperture edge) and small aspect ratios (length/diameter < 1). We review the theory behind the design of the PC lenses and bending elements, and present general expressions for estimating the values of integrated field and integrated field gradient as functions of design parameters. The new quadrupole magnet represents an improvement over an earlier version which was based on an empirical approach. Further, we summarize the results of multipole content of the magnet fields as measured with a rotating coil apparatus of special construction. The results are compared with calculations with an iron-free magnetics code and are related to different types of errors in the manufacture and assembly of the PC magnets.

Experiments and particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate the appearance of wavelike transverse density variations in a space-charge dominated electron beam. Simulations show how an aperture located near the source gives rise to a nonequilibrium phase-space distribution with strong force imbalance confined to a sheath near the beam edge. Tracking of particles in this sheath, starting near the aperture's edge, reproduces well the onset of the perturbation. The subsequent evolution of the perturbation over about one meter suggests the appearance of a transverse wave. For the parameters investigated, simulations further indicate that the perturbation damps out over a few plasma periods without causing any rms emittance growth.

Results are presented for electron beam transport experiments in a 1-m-long straight section consisting of a solenoid and five short printed-circuit quadrupoles. A linear computer code for rms envelope matching, SPOT, is used for channel design, while final simulations with more realistic elements are obtained with a 21 / 2D version of WARP, a particle-in-cell code. Reasonable agreement is found between calculations and the effective beam envelope obtained from pictures of the beam on a movable phosphor screen. The results validate, within experimental errors, the use of short magnetic quadrupoles for the transport of space-charge dominated beams. The straight section constitutes the prototype matching section for an electron recirculator to be built at the University of Maryland.